Arlen Dumas was voted out as grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Friday after a vote of 30 to 13.
Dumas was not present but announced in a news release earlier in the week that he was voluntarily seeking treatment for “a lifetime of trauma.”
He declined to comment when reached via email by APTN News. He indicated in his release the accusations against him “were unfounded.”
Dumas was suspended while the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) awaited the outcome of an internal investigation into workplace misconduct.
“The vote was successful; Arlen Dumas is no longer the grand chief of AMC,” acting Grand Chief Cornell McLean told reporters after the meeting.
“I wanted to say my apologies to Bethany Maytwayashing on behalf of the assembly and also to (a former female employee) on behalf of the AMC.”
Maytwayashing came forward in 2019 to allege Dumas approached her inappropriately on Facebook. The second woman accused Dumas earlier this year of workplace harassment and sexual assault.
McLean said Dumas was given “many opportunities to come and defend himself here today.”
He continued: “(Dumas) chose to take the route for trauma-based treatment, which I thought was kind of strange because in that there was no mention of an apology to the victims.”
Now with the vote over, McLean said AMC wants to push ahead.
“We want to work with the women and matriarchs to get things done,” he said. “It’s important that AMC moves forward; there’s a lot of work that needs to be done and we need healing.”
AMC is comprised of chiefs from 62 member First Nations in Manitoba.
